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March 17, 2005

Toasting the inconvenience of liberalism

If you've followed my writing on this blog for any length of time, you probably know that I don't buy into the notion of centrism. In a nutshell, centrism is a moving target. What was once the center of American political ideology is now far to the left. The idea that we must constantly strive for some middle ground that never sets a fixed location is an exercise in futility.

This brings me to a piece today by Rick at Centerfield.

Rick riffs off of a fake DLC letter seen at the Left Coaster. The letter begs Democrats to quit embracing the Theory of Evolution and embrace Intelligent Design..because 19 states are trying to counteract Evolution.

The letter is meant to be a joke. But not for Rick:

Thus, it's pretty clear that the middle ground on God, avoiding the extremes of scriptural literalism and atheism, is where Democrats need to be. In a polarized national election between a biblical literalist and an atheist, the literalist would likely win. That's why an atheist like Ron Reagan has no plans for a political career.

So if this is where the votes are, why shouldn't Democrats embrace the position suggested by the fake DLC letter?

The Discovery Institute's theory of Intelligent Design(ID) is based on a notion of irreducible complexity, postulating a God of the Gaps to produce small miracles in order to allow evolution to go forward. This is certainly a minority view among scientists, and could be seen as an eccentric viewpoint. Even the Discovery Institute recognizes this, so they are currently focusing on critiquing standard evolutionary theory, rather than proposing a positive alternative.

While ID sticks in scientists craws, it wouldn't be so bad if Intelligent Design theory became more popular--if the movement was out of the biblical literalism camp toward Intelligent Design. The toxicity that we see in religion comes primarily from the close attachment to ancient Scriptures. Opposition to homosexuality, for instance, is based on Leviticus, as well as some interpretations of the New Testament. Whether ID is true or not, ID rejects the literal biblical account of creation. Once one rejects the literal truth of one portion of the Bible, one opens up the question of the veracity of every chapter and verse of the Bible. To a biblical literalist, ID could be a step onto the slippery slope toward (gasp!) liberalism.

And thus "centrism" takes another gigantic leap to the right.

The center now includes completely abandoning all notions of actual science to satisfy an electorate that doesn't want to hear about it.

Liberals, progressives and Democrats simply cannot afford to take this route. Why bother to have principles if they're so easily tossed aside to appease an electorate that hates science?

Many who self identify as centrists have claimed that Democrats have had trouble winning national office because they're too far to the left.

First of all..the premise is shaky. Kerry didn't lose in a landslide. He lost by a very narrow margin. And if you discount Texas' gerrymandering, the Democrats would actually have gained a House seat in 2004. Democrats have also gained ground in traditionally red states in the mountain west..most noteably Wyoming, Montana and Colorado. They're hardly on life support.

More importantly, liberals have failed to articulate and support their values. For example: taxes. Taxes aren't government thievery. They're the priviledge we pay for living in the greatest nation on Earth. Social Security: Social Security is an insurance plan..not a Republican Party slush fund. Welfare: Welfare is a safety net to allow those who've fallen on hard times not to fall completely through society's social cracks. Conservatives embrace wars based on lies. Liberals send Americans to die only when it's absolutely necessary, as a last resort.

That is articulating liberal values.

Instead of eroding liberal values and principles to some constantly shifting notion of centrist idealism, liberals must fight for their beliefs.

We don't abandon science because it's all of a sudden become inconvenient.

The same with our values and principles.

Posted by Carla at March 17, 2005 04:28 PM